Miranda Miller is an Owen Sound mother, writer and adult educator currently running for BWDSB Trustee in the City of Owen Sound.
The RCMP recently released an internal report on their disciplinary processes, including formal and informal actions taken to address violations of their Code of Conduct by employees.
Now why would any organization want to air a laundry list of their bad behaviour?
RCMP media relations officer Sgt. Pat Flood explained this baffling concept to QMI Agency: “…the RCMP must maintain the respect and trust of the public it serves. To do this, the conduct of its members must be beyond reproach.”
Ah, well that actually makes a bit of sense. Those in positions of public trust, performing services funded by taxpayer money, must be accountable to the public they serve. Maybe this isn’t such a foreign idea after all.
Those clever Mounties… see, by releasing this report of things their officers and administrators did wrong, they’re actually telling us what they, as a public service organization, did right.
We, Joe Q Public and friends, can see that making inappropriate remarks to a co-worker cost one officer three days pay. An inspector who abused his status as an officer of the law received a reprimand and lost a week’s pay. This is actually comforting. Those who filed complaints can see some resolution; they were taken seriously and respected. Their concerns were dealt with.
We knew everything wasn’t rosy within the RCMP. Media reports highlight an especially disturbing incident once in a while. You hear things through the grapevine. Over time, the RCMP’s image became tarnished and they had to take action to begin to restore lost public confidence. After all, the RCMP are responsible for the safety and well being of citizens in many areas of Canada.
Now why aren’t school boards required to publish this type of important information? Better yet, why don’t they, like the Mounties, realize the benefits of such a strategy? These are the people and organizations in care and control of our youngest, most vulnerable citizens for a good portion of their formative years.
In our own corner of the province, the Bluewater District School Board is occasionally lambasted in the media when an issue spins so out of control it becomes news. How many other complaints and concerns are resolved – or not? Don’t we, as a community, deserve to know that the difficulties our children may encounter will be resolved in a way that is timely and fair?
We can’t just take the board’s word for it. We can’t take any public service organization’s word for it. It just doesn’t work that way. How many other public service organizations are completely self-governing, accountable only to the same higher-up organization who gives them their direction, with no arms-length third party authorized to investigate complaints?
One of the Ministry of Education’s top three priorities is, “Increased public confidence in publicly funded education,” yet there does not seem to be any checks or balances in place to protect or restore that confidence. In Bluewater, that confidence is clearly broken.
The RCMP kicked off their attempt to restore public confidence by saying, “See? We hear you. Here are the issues, and this is what we are doing about them.” It’s not pretty; in fact, some of the incidents reported were downright ugly. That is bound to happen, as there are a few bad apples in every bunch. Amazingly enough, when you can see that the organization is taking steps to punish those tarnishing the good name of the public servants, it’s easier to believe they’re not all bad.
Bluewater could take their cue from the positive outcome of the RCMP’s action. Imagine the money our board could have saved by taking proactive steps to demonstrate accountability before things came to such a head that an undisclosed amount of cash went to consultants instead of classrooms.
And what an incentive a disciplinary report could be for board employees to be on their best behaviour! We don’t need to know their names. We don’t need to know what school or district they are from. This type of action works from the inside of the organization out, as people at every level know complaints are taken seriously. You could lose pay. You could face discipline. If you are one of the higher-ups and fail to investigate a complaint, I, Joe Q. Public, will know.
If a senior administrator violates an academic policy that would have most students expelled and isn’t disciplined at all, we will know – even if it doesn’t hit the headlines.
Now, if that person is promoted to the top paying, most responsible position in the board a short time later… well, there’s no report that could make that make sense.
But that’s a topic for another day.
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